SMS Grey Routes vs Direct Routes
What happened to my text?

In this article, we explore the critical differences between grey routes and direct routes for SMS delivery, shedding light on why our text messages fail to turn up and why choosing premium routes is vital for your business.

Grey Routes: A Risky Business

Grey routes are a cost-effective yet unreliable way to exploit the vulnerabilities in telecommunications networks. They enable the transmission of bulk SMS messages at a fraction of the actual delivery cost between international mobile carriers. This process involves messages originating in one country and routed through various overseas networks before reaching their intended recipient. This complex journey serves to mask the origin of the message from mobile networks.

While not technically illegal, grey routing is widely regarded as unethical. It bypasses interconnection fees owed to relevant networks, taking advantage of a service intended for travellers to use their phones overseas.

This practice can result in cheaper bulk SMS rates, but at a considerable cost:

• Security Liability: Messages sent via grey routes are vulnerable to interception, copying, or alteration, posing a risk to recipients and compromising data security.
• Network Stress: High volumes of bulk messages can strain grey routes, affecting legitimate users of the channel and leading to unreliable message delivery.
• Route Shutdown: Host networks may shut down grey routes when they become aware of the practice, causing permanent message loss.
• Message Loss: Many messages sent via grey routes stall, get lost, or get blocked, never reaching their intended destination.
• Lack of Delivery Receipts: Grey routing typically lacks delivery receipts, leaving senders in the dark about the message delivery status. In instances seen, “grey” routes often fraudulently falsify delivery reports, meaning management information is inaccurate, and your actual cost per SMS is much higher.

Direct Routes: The Saascoms Approach

Saascoms takes a different approach by exclusively using high-quality direct routes, often referred to as “white” routes. All our SMS communications are sent via a Tier 1, on-net SMS with direct termination onto the in-country mobile networks.

Direct routes ensure that business SMS traffic, or Application-to-Person (A2P) traffic, adheres to host network protocols. Host networks prefer A2P messages to be transmitted through channels with established wholesale roaming agreements. These specialised mobile channels are designed for business messaging, offering a robust infrastructure capable of handling high volumes of messages with speed and reliability.

Through direct routes, host networks can accurately track message origin and destination, ensuring their services are safeguarding customers from potential threats like malware, spam, and poor service quality.

How to Identify the Use of Grey Routes

Identifying the use of grey routes is essential for businesses seeking reliable SMS communication. Some indicators include:

Unusually Low Prices: Extremely low SMS prices indicate the use of grey routes.

Unscrupulous Providers: In some cases, providers charge premium prices for direct routes but send messages via grey routes, profiting from the price difference.

Top Tip: Seed your own company mobile numbers when testing providers – use mobile numbers that the provider may not be aware of, and check the SenderID and delivery success.

To ensure your SMS provider delivers messages through direct routes, inquire about their routing practices. By selecting a premium SMS provider that exclusively uses direct routes, your business benefits from:

• Swift and Guaranteed Delivery
• Reliability
• Enhanced Security
• Authentic Sender IDs
• Protection Against Spam and Malicious Content

Saascoms: Your Partner for Premium SMS Services

We operate with integrity and transparency, providing unparalleled customer service. We collaborate with top host networks around the world to deliver your messages securely and seamlessly.

The choice between grey routes and premium SMS text routes is pivotal. At Saascoms, we prioritise quality and reliability, offering our clients the assurance of premium SMS text routes for their messaging needs.

Saascoms is an industry leader offering a wide range of business communication services.
Let’s discuss how we can help improve your customer communications with our award-winning range of contact solutions.